Anna Grace a.k.a. Mischievous Mary Strikes Again...

Feeling sorry for Anna Grace and her busted lip ended promptly at 7:07 this morning. As I headed down the stairs, she came up and said, “Don't worry, Mommy, I cleaned my hands. I cleaned my hands.”

As with any mother, that strikes a cord of concern when the 2 year old has taken it upon herself to clean her hands – How did she clean her hands? What water supply did she use? Why did she need to clean her hands?

I asked her to show me – there would have been no need for her to show me though; it was obvious. She had gone in the laundry room (1^st no no); gotten into the laundry detergent (2^nd no no) and proceeded to spread it all over the floor both in the laundry room and the carpet downstairs as well as the on the stool and toilet. Then to clean things up she poured laundry detergent into the toilet and played in the toilet water (3^rd no no). To top it all off about half of the bathroom floor was wet and the detergent was globbed up and stuck to the floor.

This picture just does not do justice to the real scene.

I took a deep breath, sat her down in my lap and went over the 3 things she did that she knew not to do. Then as I was getting ready to gladly (a rare occasion) discipline her I heard Bruce Stallings in my head. He was teaching our Sunday School class all over again - the parenting quarter - saying, “Don't spank/discipline in anger. I am sure no one in this room can raise their hand and say they have ever done this but I remind you so you can tell your friends – it is a sin; one you would have to confess to God and your child.” At that moment I am not sure if I was thankful or mad at Bruce for his friendly reminder.

So when she said, “Mommy, don't spank me,” as I was picking her up to wash her hands in the sink; I said, “Well, Anna Grace, I am not going to spank you this time because Mommy is so mad it would be wrong for me to spank you right now. You need to go in the other room though and play to make sure I don't change my mind.”

As I vacuumed the carpet, swept and mopped the laundry room and cleaned the toilet every once in a while she would walk in and say, “Don't spank me, Mommy.”

The positive news is that she has learned how to make the
number 2 or the letter N, depending on the way you
look at it.

And just for the record, I just swept the floor AGAIN because the detergent seems to be multiplying in there. Looks like I am going to have to do some serious scrubbing to get the residue off the floor.